Metallic railroad.



J. S. SEYMOUR. METALLIC RAILROAD. APPLICATION FILED PEB.26, 1906.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INK/5 N TOI? E) h ,[llM I ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

J. S. SEYMOUR.

METALLIC RAILROAD. APPLICATION FILED Hume, 1906.

" Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2,

- B) I! I Z Arrozv rs coma-BIA Putnam" CQJIASMINQTON. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN S. SEYMOUR, OF WHITNEY POINT, NEW YORK.

METALLIC RAILROAD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 26, 1906.

Patented Jan. 9,1912. Serial No. 303,065.

in metallic railroads, wherein metallic ties,

metallic clips and metallic splice-bars are so constructed, shaped and built together that when in place the rail will be firmly 1 retained in position without bolts or nuts, and yet so that any rail or any tie may be removed or displaced without disturbing another.

My improved railway does not require constant reconstruction or frequent disturbance of the ballast or the roadbed. The tie may be tamped as readily as a wooden tie,

will not shift by longitudinal movement, contains no parts that work loose or wear away, and when made to a templet the me tallic tie will secure perfect uniformity of gage without danger from the spread of the gage, and the construction will afl'ord a firm union bet-ween the rail and tie with elasticity suflicient to relieve the excessive wear or rolling stock and to prevent the undue noise of the train.

Other objects will be apparent from the description hereof.

I attain these objects by the structure and by the arrangement and relation of parts and by the means illustrated in the accom panying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a section of railway made according to myv invention showing the combined rail, metallic tie, clip and splice-bar for a rail joint. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one form of my improved metallic railway tie without the rail or clip or splice-bar. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one form of clip. Fig. 4, 5, 6, 7 are cross-sections of a number of forms of my improved tie. Fig. .8 is a blank from which my improved clip is shaped by folding. Fig. 9 is a view of the clip partly formed with its leaves buckled and'the whole bent out of line so as to have a half-inch less length than when straightened and shaped in place. Fig. 10 is another form of the clip with V shaped notches in both leaves and bent out of line longitudinally so as to have less length than when in place. Fig.

11 is a view of the clip when put in hot and before folding down on the flange of the rail. Fig. 12 is a perspective View of the clip adjusted to the tie but without the rail.

. Fig. 13 is a perspective view of my splicebar.

Fig. 14 is a view of the blank from which my splice-bar is formed.

A is the metallic tie when made of wrought iron.

A is the metallic tie when madeof cast iron.

B is the rail.

C is the clip locking the rail to the tie.

C, Fig. 9, is a clip partly formed with its letves buckled. C, Fig. 10, is another form of the clip within V shaped notches in both leaves.

D is the splice-bar showing a cross-piece folded under like the lower part of the clip, locking the splice-bar under the flanges of the tie.

D is a blank from which the splice bar is formed.

E is the end piece of the tie.

F are the flanges of the tie.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 are notches in the tie.

G are stiffening ribs preventing shifting.

H are lugs preventing spread of the gage.

J is the rail-joint.

K is a cross-piece employed at rail-joints.

m is a blank for the clip and 'm/ is-a blank for the clip with the leaves at right angles.

O are the openings between the end pieces and the sides for drainage.

The metallic tie which enters into my invention may be made in one piece, rolled or pressed from blanks of wrought iron or steel or it may be cast in iron.

The general shape is that of a channel iron laid with the open side up, the edges turned inward and then outward to make a longitudinal flange and a broad support for the rail base to prevent cutting by the rail and to afford also a firm lock for the clip and for the splice-bar. The sides of the channel iron are very slightly inclined inward, preferably an eighth of an inch to the foot, much exaggerated in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 so that when the wheel is passing over the rail and tie, the tie will yield a little and will spring the upper flanges at the rail seat together rather than spring them apart.

I will now describe my improved metallic tie as shaped, constructed and laid when made of cast iron, which in many situations is preferable to mild steel or wrought iron because of greater resistance to corrosion where saline matter is present in the ballast. Ties of cast iron may be made heavier at the same cost, have a serviceable elasticity, are capable of being deflected slightly without breaking, are tough enough not to break on being dropped in handling, and when worn out are available for scrap in proportion to the remaining weight. Preferably I employ soft iron and make the bottom ridged and the ends closed to prevent shifting, and at the rail seat I make lugs to come against the rail base or else make a depressed rail seat, to obviate the spreading of the gage. The ridges in the bottom are preferably shaped to resist shifting either way, more particularly at curves. In making the ends closed, I prefer to keep the corners open for drainage, and I may place holes in the bottom of the tie for the same purpose.

I may make the tie curved upward slightly at the rail seat in order to get the inward inclination of the rail which many engineers prefer. I may obtain this inclination by shaping the tie at the rail seat so as to incline the rail slightly inward.

The metallic tie when cast is provided with eight notches in the inner edge of the upper longitudinal flanges upon which the rail rests, all preferably cut at once in a machine for the purpose to the precise gage of the railway as measured at the rail base, and to the standard length of the clip fitting therein, two notches 1, 2, 3, 1 toward each end coming on the inside of the rails at the edge of the rail base and two 5, 6, 7 8 toward each end of the tie similarly situated at the outside of the rail base, and these notches in pairs on opposite sides of the upper longitudinal flanges of the tie are to receive the clip C after the rail is in place upon the tie. hen the ties are placed and the rails laid ready for locking, one end of the clip is entered in the notch, the longer ends being under the flanges of the tie and the upper fold of the clip closing at one end over the flange of the rail, the other end of the clip is made to enter the opposite notch by driving that edge along the flange of the tie, springing it open a little by the elasticity of the tie, whereupon it springs into the notch and is firmly held in its place. It is shaped in length a little longer than the distance from the bottom of the notch on one side of the tie to the edge of the notch 011 the other. Underneath the rail the clip does not reach beyond the middle of the rail base and closely clamps the flange of the tie to the flange of the rail at the point where the outside lines of each intersect.

The lowest strain in the clip comes at the middle and the clips may be made with a V shaped notch at the middle in order that they may be bent as shown in Fig. 10, being adjusted to place, both ends of the clip be ing entered in opposite notches in the tie, then by a blow of the sledge the clip may be straightened and its ends crowded in the notches in the tie and the rail and the tie firmly held in place as at C Fig. 1. Or the leaves of the clip may be buckled as in Fig. 9 and the ends similarly entered and then the clippressed down by a powerful crimping tool, or the clip may be formed with its leaves half open and at right angles as in Fig. 11, and then it may be entered in hook-shape, engaging with an under ridge in the flanges of the tie, shown in Fig. 5 It is thus seen that the rail is held firmly united to the tie, not by the friction of any element in another like a spike in a wood tie, but by a positive lock of strength and endurance proportionable to the thickness and quality of the metal in the clip.

Two clips on opposite sides of the rail at each end of the tie may be employed or they may be alternately set, their greater strength being suflicient for the stress and for the duty required, even without the lugs.

At the rail joint I provide a special splicebar and clip combined having under the rail and under the flanges of the cross-tie the same leaf as the clip. Above the tie the upper leaf of the clip may be extended the length of the splice-bar and the splice-bar itself formed by an upward bend in the upper leaf as shown in F ig. 13. The notch in the splice bar must be made deeper and the measurements inside to inside must be sligthly greater than the width between flanges of the metallic tie. On account of the length it cannot be adjusted in one notch of the tie at one end and driven in at the other, but must be sprung in at both ends nearly at the same time. The upper leaf may be much shorter than the splice bar proper and may be shorter than the lower leaf, and in such case one end of the splice bar may be bent away from the rail to allow one notch to be entered in the notch of the tie, and afterward the splice-bar may be drawn up by the bolts to the rail and thus made straight. Again, the same clip as at other places may be used at the rail joint and a separate fishplate of any desired type:

plate on the other side. And my clip may be used between ties instead of between the flanges of the same tie, the outside edge of the flange of the tie being notched to receive it, and the same may be said of my splice-bar.

I may bolt the clip to the rail in places, especially opposite the splice-bar, to prevent creeping as shown in Fig. 1. At the rail joint I may use a cross-piece K hooked over the flanges of the tie to resist spreading of the tie.

The tie when made of cast iron may be three-eighths of an inch thick throughout, or

thicker at the lower edges, or at the rail seats, and may be provided with lugs on the upper side of the flange at the rail seat further to resist the spread of the gage, and lugs may also be provided on the inside of the rail at the rail seat, or the tie may be slightly notched at the rail seat to receive the rail and prevent the spread or narrowing of the .gage. But the rails are held firmly to the gage by the notches in the side of the flanges of the tie which receive the clips, and no further safeguards are necessary.

It is obvious that my improved metallic tie may be rolled from a blank or a bloom in the manner of making channel iron, although I prefer to roll the flanges at the edges of the blank first and then shape the blank into a channel.

Ordinarily the length of the metallic tie would be about eight feet six inches, but at switches and cross-overs it is desirable to make them longer. and longer until in places they are double the length, but not many such are required. For all the ordinary track laying on standard roads, with not to exceed three degree curves, the ties are absolutely uniform, the slight widening of the gage at curves being eifected by a slightly closer fold of the clip employed on the inside of each rail, together with slightly thinner clips at the fold on the outer side of the rail. For sharper curves requiring a great difference of gage, the notches in the inside edges of the flanges of the tie must be cut so that the rails may lie a little farther apart, and except for this and the differences of length noted above in special places, the ties thropghout the whole roadbed my be absoiutely uniform. Thus I efiect by my improvements in railways for modern traffic, a much firmer union between the rail and the tie, making the whole strong and durable, without the use of separate parts in the tie, and without set screws, wedges, spikes or friction bearings, and I accomplish a positive lock at every rail seat with as few parts as with the wooden tie and spike.

The metallic tie shaped as herein described may be tamped and leveled up as readily as a wooden tie, it may be removed and replaced as readily, it will not shift, it will not spread open or wear loose, or permit the rails to spread or draw together, and the rail being locked against longitudinal movement at every rail joint, the track will not creep.

The clip cannot be weakened by carelessness in adjusting it, and thus I avoid the defect in track-laying where railway spikes are employed due to an excess blow after the head has reached the flange of the rail, thereby weakening or knocking off the head of the spike.

When well laid and accurately lined and leveled, ballasted with gravel and oiled to lay dust, the weight of the superstructure, the good tamping of the ballast, conduce to its quiet position and serve to lessen the loss in rolling stock, the cost of maintenance, the corrosion of the material, the noise, the cutting by the rail, the pounding of the joints, and efiect the minimum disturbance of the track at the lowest cost for the highest attainable speed.

Many variations in detail and in the material employed may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, as for example, in varying or omitting the lugs or gains in the top of the tie, to keep the rails from spreading, or in the use of soft metal shims or spikes to keep the clips from shifting lengthwise, in varying or omitting the provision for inclining the rail inwardly, the ridges or corrugations in the bot-tom ofthe tie to prevent shifting, the holes in the tie for drainage, the union of the bent up end of the tie with the side to prevent shifting, and the tie may be built up by parts riveted together and the like.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. In a railway, the combination of a rail, a metallic tie, a clip, and a splice-bar and clip combined engaging the longitudinal flanges of the tie or of adjacent ties and the rail, substantially as described.

2. In a railway, a metallic channel-shaped tie having inside flanges on the upper edges adapted to receive, engage and firmly hold clips by which the rails may be secured to the tie, and having the material of the side of the tie so disposed that the part thereof adjacent to the flange will be slightly inside a perpendicular from the part of the side adjacent to the base, and adapted to hold the rail more firmly at the moment the trainload passes.

3. In a railway, ametallic channel-shaped tie having an inside flange on the upper edge thereof adapted to receive, engage and firmly hold clips by which the rails may be secured to the tie and adapted to hold the rail more firmly at the moment the trainload passes, and having the sides thereof substantially flat, and having the material of the side of the tie carrying the flange so disposed that the part thereof adjacent to a the flange will be slightly inside a perpendicular from the part of the same side adjacent to the base.

4. In a railway, a metallic channel shaped tie having inside flanges on the upper edges and having recesses at the rail seats adapted to receive, engage and firmly hold clips by which the rails may be secured to the tie, substantially as described.

5. In a railway, a metallic channel shaped tie having flanges on the upper edges, having recesses to receive clips by which the rails may be secured to the tie, and means to prevent shifting of the tie, substantially as described.

6. In a railway, the combination of the rail, a metallic tie having longitudinal flanges laid hollow upward, having notches in the edges of the flanges at the rail seat, having its ends closed, having ridges along its bottom side, having drainage holes in the bottom and ends, having lugs or gains at the rail seat to prevent the spread of the gage, so shaped as to incline slightly the rail inward, and clips engaging the flanges of the tie, and of the rail, and splice-bars and clips combined at the rail joints, engaging the rail and tie, the other end of this tie being secured to the rail by bolts, substantially as described.

7 In a railway, a metallic channel shaped tie having flanges on the upper edges, having recesses adapted to receive clips by which the rails may be secured to the tie,

and ridges on the bottom .to prevent shift- 10. A metallic clip having one longitudi-' nal fold, adapted to clamp a rail to a metallic tie having an inner flange on its top edge, of which metallic clip one leaf engages the upper side of the flange of the rail and the other the under side of the inside flange of the tie.

11. A folded metallic clip, adapted to clamp a rail to a tie, one leaf of which engages the upper side of the flange of the rail, the other the lower side of the flange of the tie, and having a portion cutaway from the middle, substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal at the city, county and State of New York, this fifth day of Feb-- ruary 1906.

JOHN S. SEYMOUR. [L.S.]

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G. i 

